A second chance
by PuckPen
Summary: A story about Severus Snape, getting a second chance. Takes part after the plot in the book.However, the romance will start in the later chapters. Please read and comment, so I can improve.
1. A new morning

_**The first chapter to my first fanfic 'a second chance'. I'm reuploading it slightly different, because I'm not satisfied with the way it turned out the first time, almost a year ago.**_

_**I only did minor changes in this one, however.**_

_**I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in it.**_

_**Now, have fun!**_

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><p>The first thing he saw was the sky.<p>

It was so dull and dark, he thought it to be heavy gray cloth hanging above him.

He reached out to feel it, but it would not let itself be touched.

As he lifted his arm, the white sleeve that had covered it fell back and he could see the dark red signs on his pale skin.

He turned his head to the side.

There was a field, dark and vast, with rocks on it the shape of which did not make sense to him at that moment.

White clouds billowed around them, moved like a living thing, gently caressing the rocks.

He turned his head to the other side.

There were three figures, clad in black robes, with their backs to him, busy with some objects he could not make out.

Slowly, he sat up.

The surface he was on felt cold and smooth to the touch.

Now in a sitting position, he could see that both his arms and both his legs were covered with the red signs.

And he could see the person to his feet. The person was bent backward over the…the table, or whatever it was, bent in a way so their head and legs were dangling off of the edges of the surface.

The most curious thing about the person, however, were the deep cuts allover their body and the liquid coming from them, which had the same colour as the signs on his skin.

He was just about to touch the person, as he heard a call.

"Hey! He's not supposed to be awake yet, is he?"

He turned his head to the side again, to see that the dark figures had moved to face him.

Their expressions could not be seen, for their faces were covered by masks, but there was worry in their eyes.

One of them started to approach him, softly talking to him, but all that mattered were those eyes.

Fear struck him, for those eyes told him about the bad things the person had in mind.

Before the person was close enough to touch him, he leaped off of surface and ran for his life.

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><p>Draco locked the door to his office and sighed.<p>

He hated working until late at night. And that McMillan guy was such a pain in the ar-, uhm,…pain in the back, too.

On the other hand, his case promised to be the most lucrative one in months, and money was money, after all…

He stepped onto the foggy streets of London, looked from left to right and was about to apparate home, as he heard the noise.

Heavy breathing and little sobs. Like those of a child…

Looking around, he tried to make out where these noises came from.

_'Don't mind what happens on muggle streets, Draco, it's none of your business, you're tired and hungry and want to go_

_home, just don't mind it…'_

The sobs came closer and as the fog lifted for a moment, Draco could see the source.

A child, not older than twelve, as pale as the fog around it, in a white dress. The only things standing out in colour was the pitch black hair, that reached to the child's shoulders

and hid its face.

_' Don't mind it, it's probably just some muggle business, a child that got lost, or ran away from home, just leave it…all alone, in the middle of the freezing cold night…_

_Still, it's not your problem, just go home, go home, go-'_

"Hey there, child!"

_'Dammit!'_

The little person flinched, as if the sudden call had caused it pain, and looked up, revealing its face.

Now, for a moment Draco thought the little one must be terribly hurt or disfigured, until he realized the red lines on his face were merely painted on.

The child looked at him with big, fearful eyes, looked right into Draco's eyes and for a moment the latter had the feeling that he knew those dark eyes that seemed to look

right into his soul…

He sat down on his heels and reached a hand out to the shivering figure.

"Come here. It's alright, I won't hurt you…"

The little one seemed to believe him, since it closed the distance between them, slowly.

When it stood right in front of Draco, he had to look up from his crouching position to see the other's face.

He slowly reached up to brush a strand of hair away from the small face.

Both the face and the signs on it seemed familiar to him, though he could only recognized some of the signs.

"Now tell me, who are you?"

The kid took a few seconds before it answered.

"…I don't know…", was the silent reply.

"You don't know who you are?"

"No…"

Draco sighed and tried another question.

"Do you know why you have been crying?"

"…yes…"

"So, why?"

"I was scared of the people with the masks…"

"Masks?"

"Dark people with scary masks…"

Draco looked to the floor, his face in a frown and his mind deep in thought.

_'Those signs and people with masks…could it be?No, that's ridiculous, it can't be. It mustn't.'_

He looked back up again at the frightened, shivering child. He got up and reached for the small one but the child backed away from his hands.

"Now, don't be scared. I only want to bring you away to a place that's safe from the scary people. Come on."

Instead of giving an answer, the child looked into Draco's face, searching eye contact again.

After a few seconds of said contact it seemed to be content, though, because it stepped forward again and let itself be picked up by Draco.

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><p><strong>Yeah, the first chapter!<strong>

**Hope you liked it.**

_**Well…uhm, I'm open to criticism and suggestions, that is, as long as it stays constructive and I'd be happy about any kind of feedback, actually.** _

_**Have a nice day!**_


	2. Hello, my name is

_**Aaaaand: the second chapter!**_

_**Let's see how well that one works out.**_

_**This one I worked on quite a lot towards the end, because I had the impression the original ...sucked. Hope this one is better.**_

_**I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.**_

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><p>The child felt so very light and fragile in Draco's arms…<p>

He took the little one into his office, locking the door with the key, as well as with a security spell, just to be sure.

He carefully sat the child down on one of the armchairs in his lounge, where the clients usually waited, and went over to the fireplace. The little box he took from a shelf right above the fireplace was decorated with snakes in green and silver and he noticed, how the child could not help but to stare.

Draco smiled a little as he saw this.

"Isn't it pretty?"

Shyly, the little one nodded. Draco took the lid off and it revealed the greenish floo-powder it held. He took some of it and reached the small container to the little one.

"Here, take some of it. Don't worry, it's not dangerous, just take some."

After the boy had taken a handful of the powder, Draco put the lid back on the box and the box back on the shelf. Then, he lifted the kid up again and walked to the fireplace.

"Now, when I count to three now, you have to say 'Ministry of Magic', loud and clear, and throw the powder to the floor, like this, okay? Can you do that?Good.

So, One. Two.

Three."

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><p>Harry sighed and let his head drop on his desk. If he had known being an auror meant so much paperwork when he was younger, he would've chosen a different job.<p>

'_It must be, like, two in the morning! I've had a 16-hour-shift! Who works that long?'_

Suddenly, his musings were interrupted by a ringing to his right. Without lifting his head, he reached for his phone, an answered:

" The only person still at work, how can I help you?"

Turned out the caller was Tink, one of the houseelfs liberated by Hermoine, that worked as something like mixture of a janitor and a walking coffee-machine, and sometimes, when no one else was around, like now, as a secretary, too.

" , Draco Malfoy is here and says he wants to talk to you."

"…

Tell him, I'm not here."

A few seconds of silence, as she gave through what he had said.

" He says, it's important, sir."

"For him or for me?"

Another short silence followed.

"He said some bad words I don't want to repeat…"

Harry chuckled to himself.

"Send him to me."

With this, he hung up and stood, trying to put his clothes and hair in order.

Draco didn't have to know he was overworked, just by looking at him.

After about a minute, there was a knock on his door.

"Who's there?"

"Potter, I swear, if you don't open up this instant, I'll-"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming."

He slowly walked up to his door and opened, leaning onto the door frame, smiling as if he was about to welcome an old friend.

"Draco, long time no see, how are you?"

"Cut it out, Potter.", the other replied and walked past Potter into the office.

It was only then that Harry noticed the child that was with the blonde.

"Who's that?"

"The reason I'm here."

He carefully put the little one on the floor and tucked it's hair behind it's little ears.

Harry gasped as he saw the child fully, meager and pale, the bare little feet dirty and bloodied, the dark eyes wide and scared and the dark-red signs visible on every inch of skin that was not covered by the white robe that hung loosely around the boy's shoulders.

"What the…are those?…please tell me they're only painted on…"

"I think so, but even then, this is not good."

Frowning, Harry bent down to face the child.

"What happened to you?"

The person spoken to took a step back but still kept his eyes on the taller ones face.

"…I don't know…"

Harry looked up at Draco with a questioning look on his face.

Draco merely shrugged.

"I found him like this. He doesn't even know his own name. He-", the blonde stopped and waved the other closer, continuing in a whisper.

"He did mention 'scary people with masks', however. And don't ask me why, but I know those signs are being used in blackmagical rituals. Do you know just what this could mean, Potter?"

"This could mean everything and nothing, Draco. As long as I don't have more details I can say nothing for sure…"

He looked at the floor, to the ceiling and back again, all the while ruffling his hair, deep in thought. Finally, he seemed to come to a conclusion.

"I guess that might work…"

Again, he bent down to face the boy.

"Alright, now, I need to try something, but I need your help to do it. Do you think you can help me?"

The boy just stared right into Harry's green eyes with his big, dark ones that seemed so strangely familiar…and nodded.

"Good…uhm, well, I don't do this often…So, I want you to think about everything you can remember, alright? And never look away from my eyes, okay?"

Harry took a deep breath, closed his eyes, opened them again and spoke a silent _legilimens._

_He could see the dark-gray sky._

_He could see a graveyard enveloped in thick fog._

_He could see a brutally mutilated corpse lying on the cold stone surface next to him._

_He could see three figures that did indeed look like death eaters and he could feel the terrible fear welling up inside him…_

Shuddering, Harry broke away from the eye-contact.

Slowly, he straightened again and looked at his guest.

He opened his mouth, as if he was about to say something, but then decided to walk over to his phone and contact Tink.

"Hello Tink, here's Potter. Listen, I want you to call Barczyk and tell him to come to me right away…Yes, I know he has a week off, but this is serious…Good, and then I want you to call all the aurora who are on emergency service to go and investigate on all of London's graveyards…Yes, all of them. Tell them to gather everything that seems out of place because it might be evidence and then to make sure that nothing that could make the muggles suspicious stays behind. Alright? Good."

He hung up, turned around and leaned against his desk. He rubbed at his temples and, after some thinking time, then, he finally decided to give Draco, who looked at him expectantly,some information.

"There really has been some sort of ritual, though I can't say what those people had in mind. I-", he stopped mid-sentence, for there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!"

The door opened and a man, who had obviously been lying in bed just minutes ago, came in. He was a tall, rather chubby specimen, somewhere around his fifties, half-bald, with a friendly face.

"Now, , may I ask what should be so important as to call for me in the middle of the night?", he asked, ending the sentence with a yawn.

"Hello Michael. Thank you for coming so fast. Of course you may ask. In fact, he's standing right here.", Harry said, pointing towards the boy, who looked around worriedly, as if panicked by so many people in the same room.

Harry gave a report of what he knew about the boy by now and requested Barczyk with analysing the signs on the boy's skin and examining the boy himself.

Barczyk left with the boy, trying to calm him as best as he could.

The black haired auror looked at Draco.

"Coffee?"

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><p>"Who is this Barnishk, anyway?", asked Draco and took a sip from his coffee.<p>

And spit it back into the mug.

"Michael _Barczyk_ is our expert for rituals of any sort. He also is sort of an allround-genius, that's why I called for him to examine the boy.", Harry answered and, unlike Draco, drank the coffee in huge gulps.

"Malfoy?"

"Hunh?"

"Do you think he looks familiar, too?"

Before Draco could answer, Harry's attention shifted to the little houseelf that walked toward them. It made a quick bow and told them that was now done with the provisory examination.

They marched up to Barczyk's bureau and came into a room that looked slightly like a doctor's office, except a doctor's office usually didn't contain as many moving, ticking, sparkling and glittering objects.

The boy was sitting on an examination table in the middle of the room, his skin now clean from the red signs and his feet bandaged. Barczyk sat in front of him in an office chair, his legs dangling on both sides of the chair's back. The man had a look on his face that ranged somewhere between worry and excitement.

"And, what did you find out?", asked Harry. Michael Barczyk pushed his chair so it rolled up to his guests.

"Amazing things, I tell you, amazing things. But first the basics."

He opened a folder with notes and photos in it and began to bloviate.

"You see, his outer appearance and his physical attributes are those of a male human child of about eleven or twelve years, he's very thin, though. His intelligence is hard to estimate, for he really has no memory older than two hours and therefore no general knowledge at all but as far as I can tell, his cognitive abilities are average or higher."

"What do you think caused his amnesia?", Harry asked.

"I wouldn't call it amnesia,",Barczyk replied and took some photos out of the folder. They showed the signs that had covered the boy's body before the examination.

"Why not?"

"You see, to lose your memories, you first have to have some."

Now both Potter and Malfoy looked a bit dumbfounded.

"What exactly are you trying to tell me?", Harry wanted to know.

"He doesn't have amnesia. In fact he didn't forget anything."

"But you said yourself that he doesn't remember anything that happened before he woke up in that graveyard!", Draco snapped, finally losing his patience.

The boy who had played around with the stethoscope Barczyk had given to him before, flinched at the sudden shout, and Harry tried to calm Draco with a placatory gesture.

"Please, just get to the point, okay?", he suggested to his colleague.

"Okay, okay. Well, you told me he woke up in a graveyard, right? And there was a bloody corpse, yes? I checked on those signs of his and they had really been done in blood. All this gave me an idea of what might have happened in that ritual, pretty quickly, and when I checked on my books, my suspicion proved right.

That boy has only memories of the last two hours, because he is only two hours old."

There was a silence in the room for a little while, disturbed only by the boy, tapping on the stethoscope with his fingernail.

Until Harry spoke again, that is.

"I still don't get it. Are you trying to say that these people _made_ him?"

"Yes, and no.", Barczyk said, taking one of the photos and a page with handwriting on it out off the folder in his hand.

"Do you see the resemblance between this particular sign that was on his left shoulder and this text I copied out off one of John Dee's works?", he asked.

"Yes..."

"And do you know, what that means?"

"No, that's why you're the expert."

"The text is about catching and enslaving ghosts, isn't it ?", Draco chimed in.

At the questioning looks he got, Draco crossed his arms and put on a stern expression, trying not to look like he needed to defend himself.

"Just...go on!"

"...okay...As Mr. Malfoy stated correctly, I found this particular sign in a text about catching and enslaving ghosts. In fact, as far as I checked, all of these signs can be somehow connected to the same topic, in a way, that, together with what the boy told me, leave me to only one conclusion."

Sighing, Barczyk looked over to the apparently fascinated little boy who listened to his own heartbeat with the borrowed stethoscope.

"I think he was resurrected."

"Resurrected?"

"Yes."

"Like, from the dead?"

"Yes."

Again, like so often that night, Harry started to rub his temples, even though he knew it wouldn't help the throbbing headache that was approaching him.

In a futile attempt to grasp the situation better he asked: "Is that even possible?"

"Of course it is.", Barczyk said. "Almost everything is possible with black magic when you have the skills and the resources. If you have only resources, like our friends on the graveyard, however, it's very likely to have big, bad consequences."

"Consequences...", Harry said tiredly, looking over at the child.

"Yes. For example getting a little boy without memories who becomes afraid of you and runs away instead of the person you wanted."

All attention in the room focused on the boy who had started listening on different parts of himself with the stethoscope.

They stood there in silence until Draco finally voiced the question they all had in their heads.

"But who did they want?"

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><p><strong>Now, the third chapter. Hope it turned out better than the first time.<strong>

**I'm already working on the third one, so it should be up pretty soon.**


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